OCZ ZS series 650W power supply review -
Specs and Features

So OCZ introduced the new ZS series with an 80+ Bronze certification, tested by the 80PLUS organization (the people that certify and test efficiency). But what does such a certification entail ?

Well, we have bronze, silver, gold, and platinum certifications. A PSU that is certified 80 PLUS Gold or 80 PLUS Platinum is more efficient than a normal unit. Below youll find a table that shows what efficiency levels a PSU has to achieve at a given load to make the grade for a specific certification level.

Efficiency at 20% Load

Efficiency at 50% Load

Efficiency at 100% Load

80 PLUS

80%

80%

80%

80 PLUS Bronze

82%

85%

82%

80 PLUS Silver

85%

88%

85%

80 PLUS Gold

87%

90%

87%

80 PLUS Platinum

90%

92%

89%

All the OCZ ZS power supplies are certified by the 80PLUS organization to deliver an 85% energy efficiency at 50% load (which equals with a Bronze label) and also comply with the ErP (Energy Related product) directive to ensure less than 1W of power is used in passive standby and off modes.

The series as stated exists out of three models with a wattage of 550W, 650W, and 750W, but all of these feature similar specifications as well as a single 12V rail. This can deliver between 38A and 54A of power depending on the model chosen.

As far as the available connectors are concerned, all the units feature eight SATA power plugs, at least three MOLEX plugs, as well as a 6-pin and a 6+2-pin PCI Express connectors.

The 750W models adds another two PCI Express plugs to the mix (one 6-pin and one 6+2-pin), making it compatible with AMD CrossFireX and Nvidia SLI dual-GPU configurations.

OCZ's latest power supplies are kept cool under heavy usage with a large temperature and load-controlled 135mm double ball-bearing fan.

OCZ ZS series 650W power supply reviewOCZ releases the ZS model in a three fold of models, a 550W model priced at 55 EUR, a 650 model priced at 65 EUR and a 750W model priced at 75 EUR (USD conversion is similar at the moment).The big question with it remain reasonably efficient and most of alls stable ? Today we'll grab a couple of other power supplies and see how efficient the PSU is and how well it behaves under load.